York County 4-H News, October 2017

Club News

Lucky Charms

The Lucky Charms had a great time at Acton Fair and would like to thank everyone that worked so hard to make it a great experience!

On September 10, the Lucky Charms club participated in the Strut your Mutt walk on Kennebunk Beach raising money for the AWS in Kennebunk.

In October we will be planning our projects for next year and participating in Great Works Feed Supply‘s Customer Appreciation Day October 21! Hope to see you there; we’ll have baked goods, pet toys, and grain bag totes, all made by Lucky Charms members!

Boots and Buckles

Hailey R. showed her lambs — Lisa and Lynne — at Acton Fair and Ossipee Valley Fair. She ended the season with a champion ewe and champion commercial lamb award. She also showed an alpaca, Zurina, at the Acton Fair and received three 1st-place ribbons. Mia K. received three 1st-place ribbons with her alpaca Eloise at the Acton Fair. She also received a 1st-place ribbon in her egg exhibit, and a 1st-place ribbon for a felting project through 4-H.

Kidding Around

It has been a busy fair season for Kidding Around 4-H Club. Many of our members entered 4-H exhibits at the Ossipee Valley Fair Exhibit Hall and earned ribbons. Most of our members attended Acton Fair and worked in the Food Booth and/or put exhibits in the Acton Fair Exhibit Hall. This year was the first in quite a while that we had a float in the parade and the first time ever that we did a one-theme exhibit. Thanks to all our members, parents, aunts, uncles, and grandparents who helped us make this year a success.

Nature Kids

Nature kids visited FARM animal rescue and prepared for a hurricane relief fundraiser they will run at Great Works Feed Supply on October 21.

York County Shepherds

All the kids — Kaysia, Annalise, Chloe, and Amelia — sold market lambs at the Fryeburg Fair this year. Attending the clinics in the early spring helped them a lot. Most of the members did a demo at the fair, which keeps getting bigger and better each year. Our next meeting we will be voting in President/Vice/Secretary/Treasurer and collecting items for the holidays for a family/homeless/or animal shelter. Looking ahead we will be working on some felting projects during the winter months and some barn visits in spring.

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Art Hope Teen Volunteer Opportunity

Art Hope is looking for teen volunteers who can help at the visual art tables and with outdoor activities at our upcoming Art HOPE Studios for Veterans at the Wells Reserve at Laudholm. More details are available from the website about the Art HOPE Youth Service in Healthcare Program. This project is made possible by a grant from the Maine Community Foundation.

Information:

October 28, 2017, 10:00 AM – 12:00 PM
Wells Reserve at Laudholm
342 Laudholm Farms Road
Wells, ME 04090

Youth volunteers will need to contact Laura Jaquays prior to the event at 207.337.2900 or laura@arthope.org and arrive 45 minutes before the start time. Llink for Art Hope.

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Fall Fest, November 18, Sanford Junior High School

Registration information will be sent soon to all York County 4-H leaders!

Schedule:

12:30 PM: Check In

1:00 – 1:40 PM: Workshop 1

1:45 – 2:25 PM: Workshop 2

2:30 – 3:10 PM: Workshop 3

3:15 – 3:55 PM: Workshop 4

4:00 – 4:30 PM: Buy Auction Tickets

4:30 PM: Auction

4:45 PM: Dinner/Dessert

Awards

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Hazel Goodwin: Maine 4-H Salute to Excellence 2017 Outstanding Volunteer Achievement Award

Hazel Goodwin of Shapleigh was awarded the 2017 University of Maine Cooperative Extension 4-H Salute to Excellence Outstanding Volunteer Achievement Award, the highest 4-H volunteer honor bestowed by UMaine Extension 4-H.

The award recognizes Goodwin’s dedication to positive youth development and contributions to Maine youth during her 63 years of volunteer service. Since 1954, she has served as leader or assistant leader of the Four Leaf Clover 4-H Club in Shapleigh. Goodwin will be honored at the Maine 4-H Foundation annual luncheon on May 23 in Orono.

The Maine 4-H Salute to Excellence Outstanding Volunteer Achievement Award honors 4-H volunteers who have served Maine 4-H for 10 years or more. As the 2017 honoree, Goodwin also becomes Maine’s nominee for the 2018 National 4-H Salute to Excellence Outstanding Lifetime Volunteer Award.

Before becoming a 4-H volunteer, Goodwin was a member in the Four Leaf Clover 4-H Club for 11 years (1931–42) during the Great Depression. When her own children joined her former club, she decided to give back by becoming a 4-H volunteer. Under Goodwin’s guidance, the Four Leaf Clover 4-H Club became an integral part of the Shapleigh community.

“Hazel’s impact on the youth cannot be measured. This is true not only for the 4-H members, but their families, as well. It is what makes her such a great 4-H volunteer,” says Sally Farrell, York County 4-H youth development professional.

Goodwin has been adamant that club members serve the community. The Four Leaf Clover 4-H Club members clean the town hall and fire station, plant flowers around the town and serve meals at town meetings. As a result of the club’s commitment, the town of Shapleigh gives each 4-H member a small yearly stipend.

Goodwin also committed to helping the 4-H members learn about state and national history, making it a priority to take members on field trips to local historic sites.

Fundraising is another way the club gets involved. One of the ways the club raises funds for York County 4-H is by having members and parents work at the Acton Fair 4-H food booth. Goodwin has been volunteering at the food booth since 1954, Farrell says.

“Hazel has truly touched many generations of families over the years and now is helping great-great grandchildren of her original members,” says Farrell. “Her club is a great example of letting the youth choose their own projects based on their own interests. Older youth are encouraged to mentor younger youth. What she also has are the babies and toddlers hanging out at the meetings with the parents, so by the time these children are old enough to join as Cloverbuds (4-H members ages 5–8), they have a great understanding of 4-H, and it is a natural path to 4-H membership.”

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State 4-H News

Interested in earning money and having happy hens as co-workers?

The 4-H Egg Business Project helps participating youth and their families learn about entrepreneurship, food safety, and animal husbandry. To learn more go to Egg Business Project or contact Debra Kantor at debra.kantor@maine.edu or 207.474.9622.

Maine 4-H Project Records, Reflection Tools and Digital Badges!

Maine 4-H is excited to roll out new 4-H project records, reflection tools, and opportunities for digital badges. A team has been working to design the new records aligned with research and connections to Maine’s commitment to proficiency based education in mind. We know that these won’t be perfect and are anxious to have YOU help us try them out and be part of the process. We’ll be posting the records online soon and are planning a few ways for you to be part of the team.

• Join our Google classroom community. This will be a place where volunteers and youth members are able to share real time feedback about these tools. To join:
  • Sign in to Classroom at google.com.
  • On the homepage, click Add   Join class.
  • Enter the code  d9jmty and click Join.
• Participate in our live feedback sessions. Please, save the date for feedback sessions. These will be conducted using Zoom. Registration for these sessions will be posted soon!
  • October 17, 2017 from 6:00 PM – 8:00 PM
  • November 8, 2017 from 6:00 PM – 8:00 PM
  • January 23, 2018 from 6:00 PM – 8:00 PM
  • March 24, 2018 from 6:00 PM – 8:00 PM
  • September 11, 2018 from 6:00 PM – 8:00 PM

We are looking forward to having YOU as part of our team. If you have any questions please contact Kristy Ouellette at kristy.ouellette@maine.edu or 207.353.5550, extension 12.

UMaine 4-H Science Saturday: Where There’s Smoke, There’s Chicken

Youth in grades 9-12 are invited to join us Saturday, October 28 from 11:00 AM – 3:00 PM at Witter Farm on the University of Maine campus in Orono to learn how to prepare delicious smoked chicken with our own Dr. Colt Knight! First, we will learn the art of preparing a whole chicken, and learn about how to safely handle raw chicken meat. We will explore how to include chicken as part of a healthy, balanced diet, as well as talk about different ways to season and prepare chicken meat. And finally, we will be enjoying our smoked chicken for lunch. Space is limited, so register by October 20. Cost is $10 and includes lunch.

Risk Perception on the Family Farm

Debra Kantor and Leslie Forstadt are trying to identify farm families to interview for a research project to learn about the safety concerns of beginning farmers (less than 10 years) with children (under the age of 18). The farmers will be given $75 to compensate for their time.  If you have a family that might be interested or would like additional information contact Debra by email at debra.kantor@maine.edu or call 207.474.9622.

Maine Poultry Growers Association, First Annual Conference

The MPGA is an association for Maine poultry keepers of all types and for anyone interested in poultry.
October 21, 2017, 9:00 AM – 4:00 PM at the Student Union Room, Alfond Campus, Kennebec Valley Community College, Hinkley, ME. Register online. Cost is $35.00/person ($25.00 for MPGA Members); lunch is included. Sponsored by University of Maine Cooperative Extension, Maine Organic Farmers and Gardeners (MOFGA), and Poulin Grain. Contacts are Jason Lilley at lilley@maine.edu or Diane Schivera at dianes@mofga.org.

New For 2018: Regarding Eastern States Intent to Participate Forms

The due date for all 2018 Eastern States Beef Intent to Participate Forms will be January 2. Intent forms for all other animal commodities — dairy, dog, goat, horse, and sheep — will be due on February 1.

This decision was made at the Spring Animal Science Committee meeting to help eliminate confusion by making all due dates a little more consistent. Updated Intent to Participate Forms will soon be available.

4-H Gives: Relief Support for 4-H Programs affected by Hurricane Harvey

The gulf coast region of Texas has experienced massive damage and destruction from Hurricane Harvey. In times like these we see the good in countless individuals who wish to lend a hand and comfort those in need. In response to the disaster on the coast many local 4-H clubs are hosting supply drives where items can be delivered quickly and efficiently to the storm zone. The Texas 4-H Youth Development Program and the Texas 4-H Youth Development Foundation are facilitating a monetary campaign to directly support 4-H club and county programs in the hurricane zone. To help, go to the Texas 4-H Foundation, click on the “give now” link at the top right, complete the online form, and type “4HSupportsTexas” in the Gift Designation Box, with your payment information.

GPS Program for livestock available for older teens

Dr. Colt Knight is working with a University in Australia to develop a youth program for teenagers in rural communities to improve digital literacy and promote technology in agriculture. Essentially, they want to introduce students to modern precision agricultural tools and software to give them a jumpstart to either their career or college studies.

This program will target older teens (15-17 ideally). Teens will learn how GPS works, research applications of GPS on livestock, and real world uses for GPS technology in modern livestock operations. The kids will construct a GPS collar and develop a hypothesis to test on their pastured cattle. They will download data from collars, analyze the data on excel and ArcGIS, and learn to utilize basic statistics to understand what the data means. Students will then prepare a poster and compete in a regional poster competition. Dr. Knight will donate a Custom Silver Buckle to the winner of the regional competition.

Below is a basic outline of the course:

GPS Cows Learning Module 

1. How GPS works
2. History of GPS livestock tracking
3. Current uses in livestock research
4. Scientific Method
5. Collar construction — Students will be invited to the UMaine campus for a tour and the opportunity to construct their GPS collars from scratch
6. Deploy collar
7. Download data
8. Analyze data
9. Develop a poster to display results

Please contact Debra Kantor at debra.kantor@maine.edu for more information.

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York County 4-H Calendar